Pope Boniface VIII seized by agents of Phillip, "the Fair," King of France

1312:

Death of Ferdinand IV, King of Castile

1471:

Frederik I, king of Denmark and Norway (1523-33) born

1493:

Death of Frederick IV, Holy Roman Emperor

1496:

Death of Ferdinand II, King of Naples

1497:

Sailor Perkin Warbeck becomes English King Richard IV

1502:

Amerigo Vespucci returns to Lisbon, Portugal

1533:

England's Queen Elizabeth the First was born in Greenwich. She was the daughter of English king Henry VIII & Anna Boleyn. born

1548:

Death of Catherine Parr, widow of Henry VIII, King of England

1574:

Death of Pedro Menendez de Aviles, founder of St. Augustine, Florida

1630:

Boston, Massachusetts, founded and named

1631:

Composer Clemens Thieme born

1635:

Composer Pal Esterhazy born

1644:

Death of Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio

1664:

The Dutch governor of New Netherlands--Peter Stuyvesant--surrenders the colony to an English naval force under Colonel Richard Nicolls. The English rename the colony New York

1703:

Composer Jean Monnet, composer born

1707:

Writer on natural history George-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon born

1737:

Italian anatomist and physicist Luigi Galvani born

1741:

The London Daily Post reported erroneously that Handel's star singer Francesca Cuzzoni was about to be sentenced to death by beheading for poisoning her husband

1756:

Dutch poet and writer Willem Bilderdijk (Disease of Scientists) born

1778:

Shawnee Indians attack and lay siege to Boonesborough, Kentucky

1813:

The earliest known printed reference to the United States by the nickname "Uncle Sam" occurs in the Troy Post

1819:

A cellist who inspired a famous musical witticism died. Jean-Louis Duport and his big stringed instrument prompted Voltaire to say: "You'll force me to believe in miracles when I see that you can turn an ox into a nightingale."

1822:

Brazil declared its independence from Portugal

1829:

August Kekule von Stradonitz, discovered structure of benzene ring born

1860:

American primitive painter Grandma Moses born

1867:

Financier J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. born

1876:

The James and Younger gang botches an attempt to rob the First National Bank of Northfield, Minn

1888:

An incubator is used for the first time on a premature infant. Edith Eleanor McLean became the first baby to be placed in an incubator. She weighed 2 pounds, 7 ounces

1892:

James J. Corbett knocked out John L. Sullivan in the 21st round to win the world heavyweight crown in New Orleans in the first major prize fight that called for the use of boxing gloves under the "Queensberry" rules

1896:

A.H. Whiting won the first automobile race ever held on a racetrack this day. A crowd of 40,000 people watched Whiting tear around the track at 24 miles per hour in Cranston, RI

1900:

Author Taylor Caldwell (Dear and Glorious Physician) born

1901:

The Peace of Beijing ended the Boxer Rebellion in China

1908:

Heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey born

1908:

Paul Brown, coach of Cleveland Browns (1946-62) born

1909:

Producer-director Elia Kazan born

1912:

French aviator Roland Garros sets altitude record of 13,200 feet

1913:

Actor Sir Anthony Quayle (The Bourne Identity, The Eagle Has Landed, MacKenna's Gold, The Guns of Navarone) born

1914:

James Van Allen, discovered Van Allen radiation belts. born

1921:

Pianist Arthur Ferrante born

1921:

The first Miss America Pageant was held at Atlantic City, New Jersey. The contest was a promotion to keep tourists in the resort town after the Labor Day holiday. Miss Washington, D.C. won the contest and received a golden statue of a mermaid as her prize! She was 16-year-old Margaret Gorman. Miss Gorman was 5'1 with blonde hair, blue eyes, weighing 108 pounds and her vital stats were 30-25-32

1922:

The British composer Arthur Bliss conducted the premiere of his own "Colour Symphony" with movements called purple, red, blue and green

American television pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth, 21, succeeded in transmitting an image through purely electronic means by using a device called an "image dissector."

1928:

Basketball Hall-of-Famer Al McGuire was born. He was the winningest coach ever at Marquette University in Milwaukee with a 295-80 record. born

1930:

Jazz musician Sonny Rollins born

1934:

Blues singer Little Milton born

1936:

Rock legend Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock,Texas. His last name was misspelled on his first recording contract, and he left it that way.

1937:

Actor John Philip Law born

1940:

Nazi Germany began its initial "blitz" on London during World War Two

1942:

Actor Richard Roundtree (Christmas in Connecticut, Shaft, Young Warriors, Earthquake, A Time to Die, Miami Cops) born

1946:

Singer Alfa Anderson (Chic) born

1949:

Singer Gloria Gaynor born

1951:

Rock singer Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) born

1951:

Actress Julie Kavner born

1954:

Actor Corbin Bernsen born

1954:

Rock musician Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) born

1956:

Pianist Michael Feinstein born

1957:

Singer Margot Chapman (formerly Starland Vocal Band) born

1963:

The National Professional Football Hall of Fame was dedicated in Canton, Ohio. (I've always lived in or near Canton. I marched in the HOF Parade several times - never yet been to the Hall of Fame.)

1966:

The final episode of the original The Dick Van Dyke Show was seen on CBS-TV

1969:

Senate Republican leader Everett M. Dirksen died in Washington DC

1970:

Rock musician Chad Sexton (311) born

1977:

The Panama Canal treaties, calling for the US to eventually turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington

1977:

Convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy was released from prison after more than four years

1978:

Actor Devon Sawa born

1979:

The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) made its cable TV debut

1985:

President Reagan threatened to retaliate against Japan and the European Common Market for unfair trading practices

1985:

Hana Mandlikova upset Martina Navratilova to win the women's title of the U.S. Open

1986:

Desmond Tutu was installed as the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, becoming the first black titular head of South Africa's fourth-largest Christian church

1986:

President Augusto Pinochet survived an attempt on his life by leftist guerrillas

1987:

Erich Honecker became the first East German head of state to visit West Germany as he arrived for a five-day visit

1987:

The Reverend Jesse Jackson declared his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination

1988:

Vice President George Bush startled an American Legion audience in Louisville, Kentucky, by referring to September seventh as "Pearl Harbor Day," which is actually December seventh. (Realizing his mistake, Bush said, "Did I say September seventh? Sorry about that.")

1989:

The Senate approved, 76-8, legislation prohibiting discrimination against the handicapped in employment, public accommodations, transportation and communications

1990:

Kimberly Bergalis of Fort Pierce, Florida, publicly identified herself as the AIDS patient who apparently had apparently been infected by her late dentist. (She died the following year at age 23.)

1990:

President Bush left for his one-day Finland summit with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev

1991:

The European Community opened a peace conference in the Netherlands aimed at bringing peace to Yugoslavia

1991:

Monica Seles won the U.S. Open in New York, defeating Martina Navratilova 7-6, 6-1

1992:

Troops in South Africa fired on African National Congress supporters near the Transkei homeland, killing 28 and wounding 200

1992:

Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent resigned, four days after a no-confidence vote by club owners

1993:

Two white laborers were convicted in West Palm Beach, Florida, of burning a black tourist from New York; both were later sentenced to life in prison

1993:

Dr. Joycelyn Elders was confirmed by the Senate to be surgeon general

1993:

President Clinton put forth an ambitious plan to "reinvent government" by reducing the federal bureaucracy

1994:

After a brief meeting, the United States and Cuba temporarily suspended talks on stemming the Cuban refugee exodus

1994:

U.S. Marines assigned to a potential Haiti invasion force began training on a Puerto Rican island amid talk in Washington of a U.S.-led intervention

1995:

After 27 years in the Senate, Bob Packwood, R-Ore., announced he would resign, heading off a vote by colleagues to expel him for allegations of sexual and official misconduct

1995:

The space shuttle Endeavour thundered into orbit with five astronauts on a mission to release and recapture a pair of science satellites

1996:

Isabel Correa became the 40th person known to have died in the presence of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, less than a day after police burst into a Michigan motel room, interrupting a meeting between Kevorkian and Correa

1996:

Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and mortally wounded on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later

1997:

Mobutu Sese Seko, the former dictator of Zaire, died in exile in Morocco at age 66

1998:

Russian lawmakers rejected Boris Yeltsin's candidate for prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, for a second time, throwing the country into even deeper political turmoil

1998:

St. Louis Cardinal Mark McGwire equaled Roger Maris' single-season home run record as he hit number 61 during a game against the Chicago Cubs

1999:

An earthquake in Athens, Greece, claimed 143 lives

1999:

Indonesia imposed martial law in East Timor, promising to crack down on rampaging pro-Indonesian militias after the territory's vote for independence

1999:

It was announced that Viacom Inc. was buying CBS Corp. for $36 billion -- the richest media merger in history